Rep. Jim Clyburn on Thursday called on the White House to include economic projections in a report to Congress that the administration reportedly plans to exclude.
“I write today to request that you release the unemployment and economic projections that the White House has reportedly decided to omit from the annual mid-session review budget update so Congress can seek effective solutions to help struggling Americans and prevent further economic damage,” Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, said in a letter to the White House.
The congressman is the House majority whip and chairs the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which investigates issues related to the pandemic. The panel is currently examining the record high employment that has occurred because of the virus and called on the White House to release its unemployment and economic projections so Congress can better assess how to address the situation.
“Now is not the time to ignore difficult facts about the direction of our economy or hard truths about the record-high unemployment across the country,” the letter states.
Last month, the Trump administration reportedly decided not to include economic forecasts in its “mid-session review” to Congress because the impact of the coronavirus has made it difficult to predict trends.
The document updates projections made in the president’s budget, which was released in February. It shows changes in federal revenue and spending and also includes projections on issues such as employment, wages, inflation, gross domestic product, housing starts, and industrial production. Given the state of the economy, these projections will likely be unflattering to the administration as the nation faces record high unemployment and contracting economic activity.
Clyburn said the White House should not hide the information no matter how bad it looks.
“We cannot bury our heads in the sand,” he said during the panel’s hearing on Thursday about the jobs crisis created by the virus.
The White House must confirm to the subcommittee by Sunday on whether it will include the economic data in the upcoming report, according to the letter. If the deadline passes without confirmation, the letter states that the administration must provide its economic data to the panel by July 2.
